Column: A decision you can’t take back

Today’s Advocate column (read it below) is about Debbie Van Buren, who recently took her Jack Russell terrier to an animal shelter, after the dog attacked one of the family’s beagles.

Van Buren says she immediately regretted the decision, and she has spent the last week trying to get the dog back. The shelter, however, won’t turn it over, saying it believes it can find a more appropriate home for the dog named Max.

Is the shelter doing the right thing? Thoughts? Questions?

Here’s the column:

Debbie Van Buren says it was the biggest mistake of her life — a rash, emotional decision she regretted within hours.

If she hadn’t been so upset, she says, she wouldn’t have done it. She never would have taken Max, a Jack Russell terrier, to a shelter after the dog jealously attacked Buster, the family’s 10-year-old beagle. It wasn’t Max’s first attack on Buster, and Van Buren decided she’d had enough.

“I was extremely, extremely emotional that it had happened again,” says Van Buren, a nurse. “I just wasn’t thinking correctly.”

Van Buren brought Max to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley last Thursday, she says. The very next morning she called the shelter in Howes Cave to say she’d changed her mind. She wanted her dog back.

But the shelter refused to hand him over. Max, in fact, is still there.

Now, there’s no evidence Debbie and her husband, Jeff Van Buren, took anything but excellent care of Max. In the two months they owned him, the couple from Wright, in Schoharie County, caught him up on a range of shots and paid to have the Jack Russell neutered.

These are animal lovers — Buster is joined in the house by two dogs, Theo and Rose, and three cats.

When floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene rushed (and ultimately helped destroy) their home last year, they escaped with only their pets and the shirts on their backs.

But officials at the shelter believe they can find a more appropriate home for Max. Since he’s occasionally aggressive, they say, the dog should live in a house where he’s the only animal.

“It’s not fair to return a dog to somebody if doing so would impact the health of another dog in the house,” says shelter manager Kerrie Colin. “We have to look at it for the safety of both animals involved.”

Colin says that when Debbie Van Buren handed Max over, the dog became the shelter’s responsibility. Van Buren, she says, signed paperwork that made that clear — and detailed that the decision was permanent.

“We’re not maliciously keeping the dog from her,” Colin says. “She told me she didn’t want to see (Buster) get hurt. And that’s OK. That’s what we’re here for.”

Debbie Van Buren, however, maintains that she was too upset to fully read or understand the paperwork. Can’t the shelter, she asks, allow for owners who realize they’ve made a horrible decision?

Officials at the shelter admit it’s an unusual situation. Most folks who surrender animals never look back. And most of those pets, it seems safe to assume, don’t come from such able homes.

Still, the shelter is not inclined to reverse its decision. Indeed, its Board of Directors has unanimously backed Colin’s decision against returning Max.

“There’s no way we’re going to give back that dog,” says Alan Rubin, the board’s president. “She brought it to us and signed the papers. That dog is now ours. That dog will go to a good home.”

Buster, by the way, is doing fine. The attack required a visit to the vet and some stitches, but on Wednesday Buster seemed as cheerful and lively as any other beagle.

The Van Burens say Max is a sweet and loving dog. But he would become jealous when Buster got near Debbie. And that’s when the attacks happened.

“The two dogs are going to butt heads,” says Jeff Van Buren, a truck driver for the Science Diet brand of dog foods. “Male dogs will fight once in awhile.”

The Van Burens say they have arrived at a solution: They’re prepared to undertake minor construction on the trailer that replaced their storm-ruined home, erecting a barrier that will keep the dogs separated.

Colin, however, says that scenario is not ideal. Keeping dogs apart but in close proximity, she says, is likely to increase Max’s aggression toward Buster.

And it’s impossible to keep dogs forever apart, she says. Accidents happen, and gentle Buster will suffer as a result.

The Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley is a no-kill shelter, so Max is in no danger. And shelter officials are confident they can quickly find a home for the Jack Russell, a popular breed.

Max, in fact, has already attracted the attention of several potential adopters, they say.

But Debbie Van Buren says she can’t bear that she’ll never bring Max home, or that the dog will go to another family. The Van Burens say they loved Max, and Max loved them.